A GOOD AGE: WWII scrapbook leads to new discoveries

Her late grandfather’s World War II scrapbook led Julie White to new discoveries about Jack Knight’s role running a rest camp for U.S. soldiers in Italy in 1944-45. The Watertown resident says the knowledge helps ‘complete the circle’ her mother began.

By Sue Scheible

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Sue Scheible

Posted Nov. 5, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Nov 5, 2013 at 5:09 AM

By Sue Scheible

Posted Nov. 5, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Nov 5, 2013 at 5:09 AM

» Social News

In September, I reported on Deborah Campbell of Quincy, who recently learned that her late grandfather, Owen Conrad, was a top-level American spy during World War II.

Here’s another story of discovery, also from World War II, that shows you never know what you’ll find in those old family photos and where they might lead you.

Julie White of Watertown remembers her late grandfather, U.S. Army Major Jack Knight, as a somewhat remote man who would encourage her to study hard and practice her clarinet.

Born in 1906, he died in 1988 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

“He was a career Army guy who served with the Fifth Army during World War II,” she said. “He started out in the field artillery in North Africa, then made his way to Sicily. As the war wound down in Italy in 1944-1945, he was put in charge of running several rest camps.”

Julie’s grandfather never talked much about the war, but he left behind a scrapbook from the war years with three clues: “Montecatini,” “Cernobbio” on Lake Como and “Vimercate.” Her mother has an ashtray that says ‘‘Montecatini Terme,’’ from the Italian spa town, and the scrapbook cover has a cloth patch from the American Fifth Army and a sticker from the Villa d’Este, a hotel in Cernobbio. In the scrapbook are photos of her grandfather on a lake, among fellow officers, with a young woman (her grandparents were long divorced at this time).

“There is a photo of my grandfather with Clare Boothe Luce,” White says. “My mom does remember my grandfather telling her that he had taken her water skiing on Lake Como.” Luce was the first American woman appointed to a major ambassadorial post abroad, in 1953.

This past summer, White, her husband and their son were planning a trip to Italy. They included a stop at Lake Como and the Villa d’Este.

“My hope was to confirm if the hotel had been a rest camp for the American soldiers at the end of World War II,” White said. “We had hoped to stay at the hotel until I learned that it is one of the top 100 Conde Nast properties in the world with a five-star rating, room rates starting at 750 euros a night – way past our price range!

“On Aug. 22, we made our way by ferry from Como to Cernobbio and walked the short way to the hotel. Once there, I asked the concierge if he knew any of the history of the hotel. He called the public relations manager to the front. Annamaria Duvia confirmed the hotel had been a rest camp for American soldiers at the end of the war.

Page 2 of 2 - “I showed her a menu that I had found among my grandfather’s things. She recognized the signatures of the manager of that time as well as one of the board members. She explained that during both World War I and World War II, the managers had stayed on at the hotel, even though it was functioning as a hospital, not a hotel, during each period (later apparently as a rest camp). The original building was built in 1568 by a cardinal.”

Duvia invited the family to tour the grounds, treated them to drinks on the terrace and gave White a cookbook, “Tales of Risotto,” published by the hotel staff.

“As we toured the grounds, I recognized clearly many of the places that are memorialized in my grandfather’s scrapbook,” White said. “At last, I knew for sure, that my grandfather had been here.”

The experience “helped me get to know my grandfather as a man, not just as that distant person who smoked Camels and told me to work hard. I realized that he loved Italy, loved people, was very social and outgoing.

“I was warmed to be able to confirm that he had been stationed in this amazing place, and was made to feel at home. My mom was never able to go to Europe, despite my grandfather’s effort to get her there. She had heard my grandfather's stories of Italy and now I can tell her what I saw firsthand.

“It is like completing a circle.”

Reach Sue Scheible at scheible@ledger.com, 617-786-7044, or The Patriot Ledger, Box 699159, Quincy 02269-9159. Read her Good Age blog on our website. Follow her on Twitter @ sues_ledger. READ MOREGood Age columns.